Textile swing arm clutch device

ABSTRACT

A clutch device including a unidirectional rotary sprag clutch member and controllable linkage between a rotary member and the sprag clutch member to provide free rotation of the rotary member in reverse directions or restrained rotation in the one direction of rotation of the sprag clutch member only. The clutch device is particularly designed to interrupt and dampen back and forth oscillation or bouncing of a bobbin relative to a peripherally engaged drive roll in a yarn winding and packaging operation.

ite States Patent [72] inventor William E. CampbclLJr.

Pensacola, Fla. [21] Appl. No. 778,949 [22] Filed Nov. 26, 1968 [45] Patented Apr. 20, 1971 [73] Assignee Monsanto Company St. Louis, Mo.

[54] TEXTIILE SWING ARM CLUTCH DEVICE 6 Claims, 4 Drawing Figs.

52 1U.S.C1 242/18, 192/12,188/82.1 [51] lint. Cl ..B65h 54/42, 1365b 54/52, F16d 67/00 [50] Field ofSeai-ch 242/18, 18 (B), 18 (DD); 192/12 (B), (inquired); 188/82.1, 82.3, (Inquired) [56] References Cited UNXTED STATES PATENTS 1,799,153 4/1931 Brink 242/18 1,801,378 4/1931 Swanson 242/18(DD)X 2,165,018 7/1939 Taylor l 242/18 2,243,678 5/1941 McKean 242/18 2,541,456 2/1951 Bartak 242/18 2,594,509 4/1952 Stahl 242/18 2,665,076 1/1954 Shontzu, 242/18 2,781,177 2/1957 Petersen.... 242/18 3,393,877 7/1968 Weber 242/1 8( DD) Primary Examiner-Stan1ey N. Gilreath Attorney-Stan1ey M. Tarter Patented A ril 20, 1971 3,575,356

. INVENTOR. WILLIAM E. CAMPBELL JR BYWQLL AGENT TEXTILE SWING ARM CLUTCH DEVICE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In the textile industry, a yarn package according to one procedure is formed by delivering yam to a bobbin mounted on a rotatable spindle carried at one end of a pivotal swing arm. The bobbin is driven peripherally by a surfacely contacting drive roll or is driven directly by the spindle upon which it is mounted and, in the latter case, the bobbin generally contacts a freely rotating bail roller. The pivotal connection of the swing arm permits an operator to swing the bobbin into engagement with the drive roll and to readily swing the bobbin away from the drive roll to doff the bobbin when a yarn package is formed. The pivoted swing arm also permits the bobbin to pivot away from the drive roll to accommodate for the buildup of yarn on the bobbin while packaging the yarn.

The freely pivotal arrangement of the bobbin in the conventional arrangement described does, however, present a problem. As the bobbin is being packaged with yarn at high rotational speeds, rotational and vibratory unbalancing forces encountered cause the bobbin to be in a continuous state of small amplitude bounce or hop during the entire winding operation. Repeated vibration and bouncing of bobbins during a winding operation is undesirable as uneven tensions and nonuniform winding patterns evolve resulting in the winding of unstable and substandard yarn packages. By reducing and minimizing bobbin vibration and controlled more stable and more uniformly wound yarn packages may be produced. Larger yarn packages may also be produced since swing degree of bouncing generally increases with package buildup under normal winding conditions and may become quite violent.

It is an object of this invention to provide a textile yarn takeup apparatus having means for controlling oscillatory bobbin motion during operation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The textile clutch device comprises a swing arm provided with a bobbin-mounting spindle at one end thereof and a pivotal connection at its opposite end. At the pivoted end, the swing arm has a unidirectional rotary sprag clutch and a locking lever that may be selectively controlled to engage with the sprag clutch for positively coupling the swing arm to the sprag clutch so that the swing am is restricted to rotate in one direction away from the drive roll only, and controlled to disengage from the sprag clutch to provide free rotation of the swing arm toward and away from the bobbin. The textile clutch device controls bobbin bounce.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the yarn takeup mechanism embodying the invention,

FIG. 2 is a cross section view of the clutch device illustrated in one position of operation,

FIG. 3 is a part cross section of the clutch device illustrated in another position of operation, and

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the handle control arrangement of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to the drawing, FIGS. 1-4, the swing arm clutch device comprises a swing arm 2 having a bobbin-mounting rotatable spindle 4 connected thereto at its upper end. At its opposite lower end, swing arm 2 has spaced journal sleeves 6 and 8 providing axially aligned bores 10 and 12, respectively. Sleeves 6 and 8 are joumaled on bearings 14 and 16 mounted on a mandrel 18 extending axially through bores 10 and 12.

Mandrel 18 has a cutaway portion providing a flat surface, between sleeves 6 and 8, that forms a mounting surface for mounting the swing arm assembly to a fixed bracket 20 by bolts 22.

A unidirectional rotary sprag clutch 24 of conventional design is mounted on mandrel l8 and is fixed thereto by a roll pin 26. Sprag clutch 24 has an outer clutch sleeve 28 that is rotatable in one direction only. Sprag clutches of the type disclosed herein are obtainable from the Formsprag Company, Warren, Michigan.

The outer open ends of sleeves 6 and 8 each have a cover 30 and 32, respectively, secured theretoby conventional means. Thrust bearings, such as nylon inserts 34 and 36, are mounted on the inside of covers 30 and 32, respectively. Each insert 34 and 36 contacts a respective end of mandrel 18 and acts to control axial displacement of the latter.

A rotary, control shaft 38 extends transversely through cover 32 adjacent sprag clutch 24 and is journaled within a bushing 40 provided in a bore 42 of cover 32. Shaft 38 has a stem portion 44 extending outwardly of cover 32 and an eccentric cam stem portion 46 extending inwardly of sleeve 8. The eccentric stem 46 extends into a plane generated concentrically around the clutch sleeve 28 and has parallel alignment therewith.

A positioning handle 48 is attached to shaft portion 44 on the outside of cover 32. Retainer rings 50 and 52, mounted on shaft 38 at opposite sides of cover 32 suitably retain shaft 38 therein.

Shaft 38, when rotated in one direction causes eccentric stem portion 46 to engage with and lock against the clutch sleeve 28, and when rotated in the opposite direction causes disengagement of the stem portion 46 from clutch sleeve 28.

When eccentric stem portion 46 of shaft 38 is locked against clutch sleeve 28, FIGS. 1 and 2, an angular force is exerted by shaft 38 against bushing 40 to rigidly lock or couple swing arm 2 to the sprag clutch 24.

In operation, assume initially that swing arm 2 is pivoted in a counterclockwise direction away from drive roll 56, FIG. 1, and that handle 48 is positioned in an unlock position as shown in FIG. 3 permitting the swing arm 2 to pivot freely toward and away from drive roll 56. A bobbin 54 is mounted and clutched on spindle 4, and swing arm 2 is then pivoted to bring bobbin 54 into peripheral engagement with bobbin drive roll 56 as shown in FIG. 1. The handle 48 is then repositioned to a lock position, or a downward position as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, to restrain pivotal actuation of swing am 2 and bobbin 54 in a clockwise direction toward drive roll 56 as viewed in FIG. I, but to permit pivotal actuation of the bobbin 54 away from drive roll 56. g V

While yarn 58 is being traversed across and wound on bobbin 54, ordinarily bobbin 54 would be in a state of small amplitude high frequency bounce; that is, bobbin 54 would be actuating cyclically toward and away from drive roll 56. However, according to the invention, the bounce effect is reduced, interrupted, and dampened because as each bounce is encountered bobbin 54 will be displaced away from drive roll 56 and will not move back toward the drive roll 56 since the swing arm 2 is locked from pivoting toward the drive roll 56 by sprag clutch 24. Should an unusual high amplitude bounce be encountered to displace bobbin 54 more than the usual distance away from drive roll 56, flywheel inertial forces will keep bobbin 54 rotating at normal speeds as the winding operation returns to normal.

After bobbin 54 is packaged sufficiently with yarn, an operator will pivot swing arm 2 to carry bobbin 54 out of engagement with drive roll 56 and will remove or doff bobbin 54 from spindle 4. The operator will then mount an empty bobbin 54 on spindle 4 of swing arm 2 and will raise handle 48 to the position shown in FIG. 3 to unlock swing arm 2 to permit the swing arm 2 and bobbin 54 to be pivoted toward drive roll 56. Prior to initiating another winding operation, the operator will lower handle 48 back again into a locking position as shown in FIG. 2.

The swing arm clutch arrangement stabilizes and reduces the usual bouncing fluctuations and vibrations encountered in conventional yarn winding practice permitting more stable wound yarn packages to be produced and permitting larger packages to be wound than normally possible.

I claim:

2. A clutch device as in claim 1, wherein said control means comprises a shaft having an eccentric portion selectively engageable with and disengageable from said unidirectional rotary member.

3. A textile swing arm device comprising in combination:

a fixed mandrel;

a swing arm joumaled at one end on said fixed mandrel and having a spindle at its other end adapted for mounting a bobbin thereon;

a unidirectional rotary clutch member mounted on said fixed mandrel; and

a selectively positionable control means for coupling and uncoupling said swing arm to and from, respectively, said unidirectional rotary clutch member to permit rotation of said swing arm in one direction only or free rotation in opposite directions of rotation, respectively.

4. A textile swing arm device as in claim 3, wherein said spindle is rotatable and a bobbin mounted thereon is driven by a peripherally contacting drive roll, and wherein bobbin bounce is controlled when said control means is positioned to couple said swing arm to said unidirectional rotary clutch member.

5. A textile swing arm device as in claim 3, wherein said spindle is driven and the bobbin mounted thereon peripherally contacts a rotatable bail roller.

6. A textile swing arm device as in claim 3, wherein said control means comprises a shaft having an eccentric cam portion for engaging with and disengaging from said unidirectional rotary clutch member. 

1. A clutch device comprising: a fixed member; a rotary member journaled on said fixed member; a unidirectional rotary member mounted on said fixed member; and a control means journaled on said rotary member and having selective positions for coupling and uncoupling said rotary member to and from, respectively, said unidirectional rotary member.
 2. A clutch device as in claim 1, wherein said control means comprises a shaft having an eccentric portion selectively engageable with and disengageable from said unidirectional rotary member.
 3. A textile swing arm device comprising in combination: a fixed mandrel; a swing arm journaled at one end on said fixed mandrel and having a spindle at its other end adapted for mounting a bobbin thereon; a unidirectional rotary clutch member mounted on said fixed mandrel; and a selectively positionable control means for coupling and uncoupling said swing arm to and from, respectively, said unidirectional rotary clutch member to permit rotation of said swing arm in one direction only or free rotation in opposite directions of rotation, respectively.
 4. A textile swing arm device as in claim 3, wherein said spindle is rotatable and a bobbin mounted thereon is driven by a peripherally contacting drive roll, and wherein bobbin bounce is controlled when said control means is positioned to couple said swing arm to said unidirectional rotary clutch member.
 5. A textile swing arm device as in claim 3, wherein said spindle is driven and the bobbin mounted thereon peripherally contacts a rotatable bail roller.
 6. A textile swing arm device as in claim 3, wherein said control means comprises a shaft having an eccentric cam portion for engaging with and disengaging from said unidirectional rotary clutch member. 